Some observations on the big issues of the world and the little things in life.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

My Calls For 2012

Once I gain, this is my non-scientific, seat of the pants, gut-feeling forecasts of events I think have a good chance of happening in 2012::Sports
Super Bowl: Packers vs. Pats, Stanley Cup: Bruins vs. Blackhawks, NBA: don't know, don't care, WS: too soon, but it'll be a wide open season. Don't know enough about the various Olympic sports and favorites, but I'll bet the event as a whole will be interesting.

World Events
Wow, lotta changes goin' on. Korea will remain stable (hopefully), Arab unrest will continue and spread. Rightists in Israel will face an unexpected challenge from their own population. Russian unrest is a possibility and a great unknown. Iran will find themselves at odds with...India. The last is a hunch based on Iranian maritime skullduggery that has occurred off the Indian coast and Iran's support for some Islamic militants. Citizens in some European countries begun a pushback over the surrender of their nations' financial sovereignty to the EU. Otherwise the biggest events will not be foreseen, as usual.

Politics
Will Ron Paul do a third party run?I would say that is still an unknown and may depend on whether he feels disrespected by the GOP process. Could Trump underwrite some sort of Palin third party debacle? Possible, how much so no one can say, but it would be great.
Meanwhile Tea Party candidates and pols will continue to pull the Republicans over the edge. Congress will be utterly useless, Dems win by default. The original Occupy movement loses steam but a better organized and focused offshoot, surprisingly the product of organized labor, will have a huge influence on the political narrative. Not a good year for finance, marketing and the two institutional political parties.

Energy
Tight supplies, wildly variable prices and no consensus on the supply and price issues among experts and the public. Therefore no progress on resolving the dependence on fossil fuels. Pipelines, and not just Keystone XL for oil sand product, becomes a huge issue.

Climate
Average temps continue to climb and variable wild weather continues. As I said before, climate actually becomes a campaign issue in the U.S. and denialists suddenly find themselves on the defense, not against climate scientists and activists, but against public perceptions.

Higher Ed
Think the child abuse and other abuse of power scandals and cover-ups are only in athletics? Think again, this year the lid may come off crimes committed by and coverd-up by faculty and administrators.